Then he quitted the Day-Break Tea-house; and whoever saw him, as he turned the corner of the street, change his pace, rubbing his hands and outstepping the nimblest, might well have suspected the reality of his old age and his white beard. CHAPTER X. THE TRYST. The Prince of Nagato lay stretched upon a black satin mattress, one elbow buried in a cushion and the other arm held out to a doctor crouching beside him. The doctor was feeling his pulse. At the Prince's bedside, Fide-Yori, seated on a pile of mats, fixed an anxious look upon the wrinkled but impenetrable face of the physician. An enormous pair of spectacles, with round black-rimmed glasses, lent a comical expression to the grave face of the worthy man of science. Near the entrance of the room knelt Loo, his forehead touching the floor, in honor of the King's presence. He amused himself by counting the silver threads in the fringe of the carpet. "The danger is over," said the doctor at last; "the wounds have closed; and still the fever continues, for some reason which I cannot understand." "I will explain it to you," said the Prince, eagerly drawing back his arm; "it is my impatience at being nailed to this bed, and forbidden to enjoy the open air." "What, friend!" said the Shogun, "when I myself come hither to share your captivity, are you so impatient to be free?" "You know very well, dear lord, that it is for your affairs that I am so anxious to be up and doing; the departure of the embassy which you are sending to Kioto cannot be indefinitely delayed." "Why did you ask me as a special favor to make you chief of that embassy?" "Is it not my delight to serve you?" "That is not your only motive," said Fide-Yori with a smile. "You allude to my supposed love for Fatkoura," thought Nagato, smiling in his turn. "If the Prince is reasonable, if he gives up this over-excitement which exhausts him, he may start in three days," said the doctor. "Thanks!" cried Nagato; "that news is better than all your drugs." "My drugs are not to be despised," said the doctor; "and you must take the one which I will send you presently." Then he bowed low to the King and his noble patient, and retired. "Ah!" exclaimed Fide-Yori when he was alone with his friend, "your impatience to be off proves to me that I am not mistaken. You are in love, Iwakura; you are beloved; you are happy!" And he heaved a deep sigh. The Prince looked at him, surprised at this sigh, and expecting a confidence; but the young man blushed slightly, and changed the conversation. "You see," said he, opening a volume which he held on his knee, "I am studying the book of the laws; I am looking to see if it does not need softening and altering." "It contains one article which I would advise you to suppress," said Nagato. "Which?" "That which treats of mutual suicide for love." "How does it run?" said Fide-Yori, turning over the leaves. "Ah! here it is:--